The incredibly shrinking superintendent

Less than 10 months ago, San Francisco schools Superintendent Richard Carranza couldn’t run up the district’s central office staircase without feeling fatigued.

He was taking medicine for Type 2 diabetes and pills to lower his blood pressure.

That was about when he took over as superintendent and he realized he couldn’t continue to live like that. Literally.

He started to run. And eat healthier foods.

“Quite frankly, I want to live,” he said.

Now, 67 pounds lighter (“the equivalent of a small sixth grader”), he will run over three miles with 700 Roosevelt Middle School Friday for their annual 5k jog through Golden Gate Park down to Ocean Beach.

The incredibly shrinking superintendent

Richard Carranza in a thinner current version.

“As a teacher, I got to tell you kids don’t care what you say, they care what you do,” he said.

Now when he promotes healthy eating and exercise, “I don’t feel hypocritical,” he said.

Carranza wanted First Lady Michelle Obama, a big advocate of physical fitness and healthy eating, to join him for the 5k run. He sent her a nice letter describing the district’s efforts to promote good food and exercise and asked her to come.

She politely declined, citing a busy schedule.

“At some point in the future hopefully she will come,” he said, adding that the height difference would have been interesting. “I would have had to take two steps for every one of hers.”

In the meantime, Carranza said he’ll be among the thousands running the Bay to Breakers next week, noting he will indeed wear a costume.

And he will likely stand out in the crowd wearing it: He’ll be the one dressed as a runner.